As the gold mining sector plunges to the end of a cyclical bear market, one wonders if this ongoing selling climax will precipitate a catalyst for more mergers and acquisitions in the industry. The last 12 years tells us that these transactions tend to follow the market itself but with a lag.
Peaks in M&A activity (in global mining) in terms of number of transactions and value occurred in 2006-2007 and 2010-2011 while troughs occurred in 2002 and 2008-2009. According to Ernst & Young, 2012 had the lowest number of global mining deals since 2008 and the lowest in terms of value since 2009...............................................Full Article: Source